12 Days of Dasey - '15
by shyesplease
Summary: 2015 Edition! Counting down the days until Christmas (Derekus) with some Dasey goodness. Series of seasonal one-shots.
1. Whip It

"Have some pie with that whipped cream, why don't ya?" Casey humorously mused as she entered into the kitchen to find Derek burying his dessert with a massive amount of whipped cream on top.

Derek looked up from his plate – a wicked grin sliding in place. "It's the best part. You can't have pie without the whipped cream."

"Other people want whipped cream too, though," Casey pointed out, crossing her arms as she walked closer to him and his concoction. "Did you use the whole can? It looks like you used the whole can!"

"Not all of it," Derek said as he sprayed some more of the whip directly into his mouth.

"Ew, Der-ek!" she hollered, swatting him to stop.

"How is that 'ew'?" he questioned as he set the can down in front of Casey on the counter.

"Like I said, other people want whipped cream too!" she admonished. "You probably got your Derek-germs all over the nozzle," she said, picking up the aforementioned can to try and wipe the can's nozzle down.

"You have 'Derek-germs' all over you anyway," he said with an amused smirk. He reached over to rub her hip sensually. "What's the difference?"

Casey blushed. "Der-ek," she muttered lowly as she gently pushed his hand away. Although their family knew about them, they were still…adjusting. "Stop. I don't want anyone walking in on us dry-humping or something."

Derek's eyebrows rose to his hairline in amusement. "Is that where that was headed?" Derek asked through a chuckle, stepping into her personal space to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Knowing us…" Casey mumbled into one of his shoulders. They had a tendency to get hot and heavy very quickly over the littlest of touches. Derek often joked that they were like animals always in heat.

"When are we going back home," he whispered huskily into her ear, before placing a few pecks along her neck.

"Der-ek," she said, but this time her tone was soft, breathy even. It drove him mad. "It's Christmas Eve – we're here to be with our family that we haven't seen since Thanksgiving. Plus, we already promised to stay the night."

Derek groaned and stepped back from his girlfriend. "Why did we do that again?" he wondered, turning to his pie to take a frustrated bite.

"Because we missed them, and wanted to spend some time with them," Casey explained. Derek scoffed, causing Casey to roll her eyes. "Well, at least I did."

"Trust me, I love my family, Case, but a man can only spend so much time with Edwin's flatulence, my dad's jokes, and Robby's crying," he said over a mouthful. "Not to mention the lack of sex."

Casey snorted at his last remark. Of course sex would be on his mind – not that it wasn't on hers either, but she was good at pushing it back and focusing on more important things, like spending time with her family.

"How about this," Casey began, stepping closer so that she could wrap her arms around the one that he wasn't using to eat his pie. "If you're good, and at least pretend to enjoy your family time, when we get home I'll let you use as much whipped cream you want for…recreational use…" she finished lowly in his ear.

Derek immediately stopped eating his food and looked over at Casey in confusion. "Recreational?" he wondered aloud.

Casey dipped her finger into the whipped cream mess on Derek's plate and slowly licked it off. "Recreational," Casey repeated, before sauntering out of the kitchen, smirking as she heard the kitchen stool screech backward in a haste. The footfalls of Derek Venturi were soon right behind her.

"Who's up for some real family bonding?!"

* * *

 **A/N:** So, yeah, I decided to do another 12 days of Days this year. PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you think. Also, if you have any winter/christmas one-shot ideas, please let me know! I'll be sure to thank you!

Happy Holidays!


	2. All I Want for Christmas Is You

**A/N:** In this story, Derek and Casey didn't go to the same college. No new baby either.

* * *

It's weird what four months – not even half a year – had done to Derek. It was four months ago that Casey, the keener extraordinaire that ended up getting accepted to every school she applied to, ended up going to Stanford, while Derek stayed local and decided to go to U of T.

At first, he had been ecstatic. Casey a whole 3000+ miles away from him. It felt like a dream after practically living shoulder-to-shoulder with her for the past three years. He could finally party and date without persecution. He could skip class if he very well pleased without a lecture from miss priss herself. He could even eat himself into gluttony and be as messy as his heart desired.

Everything was fine too, for a week or so. But then one day when he was flipping through his phone for a picture of Marti to show this smokin' hot babe in his English class – hey, chicks dig guys who are close to their sisters – he ended up coming across one of Casey, and suddenly his stomach clenched and this tremendous feeling of missing her overcame him.

This feeling persisted and grew stronger over the next couple weeks. He thought it would at least subside when he went back home for Thanksgiving, only to remember that the states' schools have their Thanksgiving in November, not October, thus Casey wouldn't be there. He had never felt so disappointed in his life.

It was frustrating. When he was at school, he felt homesick. But what he missed couldn't be found at his childhood home. In fact, he tried to avoid the place like the plague since being there only amplified his feelings of missing Casey more. Her presence was still there in every nook and cranny. It made him yearn for cheesy shit, like the sound of her voice and the sight of her blue eyes.

He constantly chastised himself for not having enough balls to call her or text her or something. He liked to blame the time zone differences but really he had no clue what he would say to her, besides that he missed her and wanted her to come home. But he could only imagine her reaction to that - she'd never let him live it down.

Fast forward to now, Christmas Eve, four months later. She's supposed to be flying in today. Supposed to be here by dinner. Derek's freaking the fuck out without trying to show his family he's freaking out. He just doesn't know how to feel – relieved that maybe this "missing Casey" thing will finally end or scared that it's going to blossom into something much deeper.

"Casey just called," Nora announces as she enters the living room. Derek's heart rate spikes at the mention of her name. "She said she'll be here soon, and to start dinner anyway."

So everyone gets up from their seats in the living room to walk over to the dinner table, excitably talking about Casey's arrival as they all take their portions of food. Derek stays quiet, trying to not to seem too anxious too. But when it's time to start eating the food he's gathered, he finds himself with no appetite, which is weird because usually he's an anxious eater.

"Everything alright with the food, Derek?" Nora wonders as she looks over at him with concern.

Derek snaps out of his thoughts. "Of course, Nora! Just trying to decide where to start first," he fibs, bringing a forkful of whatever to his lips. His stomach is churning in revolt, but he has to somehow push that irritation away and placate Nora.

Luckily, that's when the doorbell rings.

Marti quickly dashes to the door to fling it open, and there she is.

Derek's heart stills a brief moment before accelerating. He can barely hear everyone's cheers as they rush to the door to greet Casey over the sound of his heart pulsating.

She walks a little farther into the house to shut the door and get out of the cold. Instantly, she is trapped in a bear hug by Lizzie with Marti attacking her near the leg and Nora squeezing herself wherever she can. George and Edwin look on fondly.

Derek somehow finds his way near the couch, but he can't seem to take another step closer. His brain somehow switched to slow-mo mode, so it's hard to decipher what is being said, but everyone is happy. She seems happy.

'God, she looks stunning,' he can't help but think. It's not like he was blind in high school - he always knew she was good-looking, but the Californian sun gave her a nice tan that makes her look rejuvenated. She seems to have this glow around her like the angel on top of their Christmas tree.

She laughs at something his dad says, and Derek swears that a part of him melts at the sound. _'What the hell is wrong with him?'_

Through all the suffocating hugs and reassurances to Nora that she is eating enough and doing well, her eyes meet Derek's over the chaos and he freezes, like she's Medusa or some other weird shit. His throat is suddenly sandpaper dry.

She flashes him a funny face, probably wondering why he's acting so weird, but her attention is quickly diverted when Marti starts retelling a tale from school that happened last week.

Derek uses this opportunity to exit the room and head towards the backyard. He feels like all his oxygen is being evaporated in Casey's presence and he just needs somewhere quiet to think, and _breathe_.

He paces the length of the backyard, trying to figure out what is going on with him. First he's missing her like crazy and now he can't stop looking at her like she's this goddess. He didn't sign up for 'Obsessed with Casey 101' last semester, and he sure as hell didn't sign up for 'Intro to Drooling Over Her Like A Pervert' for the winter session.

"Derek?" he hears her calling out the back door.

' _Shit shit shit shit shit shit,'_ he thinks, because he's totally not ready to face her, let alone have an actual one-on-one conversation with her right now.

"What are you doing out here?" she asks, rubbing her arms to help suffer through the cold. "Why aren't you inside eating us all of the house?" she continues, chuckling no doubt over memories of past Christmas Eves where he did just that.

He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. Did he become mute now? Will he have to change his major to mime-ology?

"Derek?" she calls out again, this time her voice is wavering as if she is worried about him. "You're shivering. Why don't you come inside?"

Derek looks down at himself to find that he is shivering, but he really doesn't think it's because of the cold, even though he was a dumbass to come outside in the winter without a coat.

"Der-ek! Say something," she demands with a cute little stomp, and, yes, he does actually think that in his mind. "You're starting to freak me out."

"There seems to be some evidence that Adolf Hitler might have actually escaped Berlin and lived a long life in Argentina…"

She pauses for a moment to digest what he said. " _Okay_...now you're _really_ freaking me out," she decides and her face perfectly conveys what he's thinking too. _'What the fuck?'_

"It-It was just something my history professor brought up in class one day," Derek tries to explain, though he really doesn't know why _that_ particular topic sprang to mind in this moment. "It was dumb to say, I'm dumb…just forget it," he rambles, wanting to go back to not talking now because he can almost feel his IQ dropping with every word he mumbles out.

"Are you on drugs? Is that why you're acting so weird?" Casey questions, taking the necessary steps to reach him. She looks carefully at his eyes, and he uses the excuse to look at her cool blue ones. "Well, they don't look red or glassy. Though you are shaking. Please, tell me the shaking is because of the cold."

"I'm not doing drugs, Casey!" he exclaims, and, hey, he actually said something reasonable.

"Well, what am I supposed to think when you're acting all weird, not eating, and spouting off conspiracy information about Hitler?" She huffs, the action causing a huge cloud of cold air to hit his face – peppermint.

"Arghh," he groans, pulling slightly at his hair. "I missed you, okay?" he yells angrily, spouting his own cloud of cold air over to her, though his probably smells like chips and root beer. "And I've been freaking out, trying to figure out why I've missed you so damn much these past couple months! And then when you showed up things just got even more complicated real fast and I – I …" he trails off.

Dejected he takes a seat on the outdoor steps. "I'm really confused."

He hears her sigh, and soon after she's sitting next to him on the steps. "I missed you a lot too."

Derek lets himself smile at her admission, though he doubts she missed him like he missed her. "Appreciate that, Case, but I don't think you understand. These past four months without you around must have flipped some switch in my brain because…" he pauses, trying to think of the right way to say this. "Because I'm suddenly thinking you're utterly amazing, and beautiful, and I actually want to kiss you right now, and-"

"Then kiss me," she says, interrupting him.

He stares at her for a moment, eyes wide and wary. Then he stares down at her lips, so plump and soft looking. "I don't want you pitying me, like this is some charity gift," he says, turning away from her lips before he is tempted to make a big mistake. He knows that if he kisses her that he'll be completely far gone.

"I'm not pitying you," she says, but he's still skeptical, and he knows she knows this, so she sighs. "I was going to announce this tomorrow during Christmas morning, but…I'm moving back and I'm going to be going to the University of Toronto come this January."

Her announcement makes him look up at her, trying to gauge her face to see if there is any lie. He sees none.

"Really?" he breathes out, catching himself smiling. The ache he's been feeling since September is diminishing as the hope inside him grows.

"Merry Christmas, Derek," she said, giggling slightly. "Hope you don't mind that you're not getting a gift from me this year because I had to use all my money to fly all my stuff back with me."

He chuckles. "You've given me the best present ever." He leans over and presses a lingering kiss on her lips. As they separate, he leans his forehead on hers and whispers, "You're my present this year."

Casey scrunches her face up in a mixture of amusement and disgust.

"What?" Derek wonders over a laugh – her facial expressions are adorable.

"Der-ek, did you get that line from the Folger's commercial?!"

"Well…" Derek starts, shrugging slightly.

"Unbelievable," Casey mutters with an amused eye-roll, getting up from the steps to head inside.

"What?" Derek says, calling after her as he follows her. "That's a good commercial!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Yeah, this one is a bit weird. lol. You can blame my friend Van ( _aeducaanwrites_ on here). She came up with the overall concept for this oneshot. The Hitler bit was thrown in too because she was forcing me to watch this documentary about Hitler. Folger's commercial mentioned because the moment was there and I had to seize it. lol.

So, PLEASE REVIEW with your thoughts. Very curious as to what you think.

Happy Holidays!


	3. O, Christmas Tree

"Kids!" he heard his Dad yell up the stairs. Derek ignored it. He really didn't want to get up. He was halfway through level 45 on this new game Sam lent him and was in the zone! Maybe he wasn't needed anyway.

"DEREK!" he heard his dad yell a few moments later. Derek groaned, pausing the game.

Begrudgingly, Derek stomped his way down the stairs. Everyone was currently gathered around in the living room, helping to put the lights on the tree. Obviously, this was a "family bonding" thing, and Derek really wanted nothing to do with it.

Just as he was about to turn around and go back upstairs, Casey hollered up. "Took you long enough."

He winced. He was caught. There was no escaping now.

"Come on down, Derek," his Dad encouraged him. "We're going to decorate the tree and then watch a couple Christmas movies with some hot chocolate."

"Great," Derek said cynically, plastering on a very unenthused smile as he made his way towards everyone. It seemed his Dad was really trying to sell this whole "blended family" thing – he usually didn't care much for decorating.

As Derek approached the tree, he looked over at the box of ornaments already opened on the coffee table, but they weren't the Venturi ornaments. Derek then looked under the coffee table, behind the couch, and near the tree, but his ornaments weren't in sight.

"Something wrong, Derek?" Nora questioned, finally noticing his behavior.

"Where are our ornaments?" Derek frustratingly asked.

"They're right here, buffoon?" Casey answered, giving him the box from the coffee table.

" _Casey_ ," Nora cut in, giving her eldest daughter a warning stare.

"No, I mean _our_ ornaments – _the Venturi's_ ornaments!" Derek clarified, taking a threatening step towards his new stepsister. "Not your stupid ass, fancy ones," he continued, shoving the ornaments filled with lace and crystals roughly back into her hands.

" _Derek_ ," George let out threateningly.

"Be careful, Der-ek!" Casey hollered, checking the box carefully. "These ornaments are Victorian and were my grandmother's!"

"Derek," Nora said softly, touching him gently on the arm in an effort to calm him down. "Your ornaments are probably still in the basement. Why don't you go get them?"

"Fine," Derek bit out, already making his way to the basement.

…

When he finally came up, his ornaments in hand, half of the tree was already shimmering with the McDonald's fancy decorations – it made him sick. "Found them," he said as she laid them down on the couch.

Casey glanced over at the box, examining them. "We are not putting those on the tree! Mom!"

Nora sighed. "What's the matter, Casey?"

"Derek's ornaments are just sports memorabilia and food!" she exclaimed, holding up a Christmas ball that had the Maple Leafs' logo on it and a figurine of a bitten in doughnut.

"They give the tree character," Derek said defending his decorations. "Unlike yours. I want to fall asleep just looking at them!"

"The McDonald's decorations makes the tree dignified looking!" she stated, taking a step closer to Derek.

"Since when does a tree need to be dignified?!" Derek shot back, taking another step.

"Since when does a tree need 'character'," she bit back venomously, using air quotes around the word character. One more step.

The duo were now in each other's faces, breathing heavily from all their yelling. They continued to glare at each other, nostrils flaring.

"That's enough, you two!" George exclaimed, pushing the two apart. "There should be no fighting around the holidays!"

"She started it," Derek accused, pointing to Casey across the room. The teenage girl rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm going to end it," Nora spoke up. "Derek, we can use your decorations to fill up the rest of the tree."

"Mom!" Casey hollered, scandalized.

"Casey, this is our first Christmas together. We need to make sacrifices for each other as we blend traditions. It's not going to be easy, but you two fighting like maniacs is not going to make it any easier!" Nora yelled, the vein on her neck popping out.

Casey dipped her head down shamefully. Nora's tone even made him feel bad – Nora had never yelled like that before. So, silently everyone started hanging up ornaments again, but this time with the Venturi's.

The whole thing wasn't totally terrible, Derek thought though. Every time Casey had to reach up to place an ornament up towards the top of the tree, her sweater would ride up and he'd catch a glimpse of her midriff. And yes, he knows it's kind of wrong to be checking out his stepsister, especially since she was the bane of his existence. But it was also wrong for his Dad to marry someone with a hot, teenage girl his age. He felt like the two balanced themselves out somehow.

Nora took a step back, looking over at the tree fondly. "It looks great, everyone! Now we just have to put up the topper."

Derek took out the Venturi star and sauntered up to the tree to place it. However, Casey was besides the tree with an angel in her hand.

"No, Derek, we're putting up the angel," she said.

Derek laughed, scoffing at the object in her hands. "No, we're putting up the star."

"Mom!" "Dad!" they both yelled simultaneously at their respective parents.

Nora and George looked at each other, unsure what to do.

"Why don't we hold a vote?" Lizzie suggested.

"That's a very good idea, Liz," George said, complimenting his youngest stepdaughter.

"No, it's our house, we should at least be able to keep our topper!" Derek said stubbornly.

Casey rounded on him. "At least you were able to keep living in your house, so the least you could do is hang our angel on top of the tree."

"No!" Derek said defiantly. He wasn't going to wait for some dumb vote either. He reached up on the tree, trying to place the star.

His plan was stunted when Casey bumped roughly into his side, knocking him a foot or two away. She then reached up to place the angel on the tree, but Derek rebelled back, pushing her away.

The two then continued to battle it out, pushing and pulling each other in a grapple hold. The whole family was yelling at them to stop, but it was mere static noise to their own fighting.

Somehow in their scuffle, they lost their balance and fell towards the tree, causing the tree to fall to the ground with the two teenagers tangled on top.

Derek could hear a few ornaments shatter and the few twigs of the tree crack off the trunk. He winced, knowing this wasn't going to be pretty.

"DER-EK! CAS-EY! UPSTAIRS TO YOUR ROOMS!"

And that is why Derek and Casey were grounded during the first McDonald-Venturi Christmas.

* * *

 **A/N:** I always wondered what happened that first Christmas with them all together, since we know "A Very Derekus Christmas" could not have been their first Christmas together. So maybe Derek and Casey were just grounded on that Christmas, thus the episode might have been too boring with our lovely duo only sulking in their rooms? Lol ;)

Hope you enjoyed this. Remember to REVIEW and tell me your thoughts!

Happy Holidays!


	4. Baby, It's Cold Outside: Part 1

"SMEREK!"

The lump hiding under the covers groaned as the shrilling voice of his little sister woke him up from his slumber.

"Come on, Smerek! You promised to play in the snow with me today," a persistent Marti hollered, jabbing at him through his blanket cocoon.

"Okay! Okay!" Derek's muffled voice rang out. "Let me get dressed. I'll be down soon."

"Yay!" Marti exclaimed cheerfully and ran out of his room.

As Marti's cheers faded out, Derek's eyes started to droop again. His bed was so warm and comfy. The only thing he was missing was -

"Aren't you supposed to be getting up?"

Derek's eyes flew open at the sudden break in silence. He then looked over at Casey, who was leaning by his door frame, arms crossed with an eyebrow raised. "Or did you lie to your Smarti?"

"I was just resting my eyes for a couple more seconds," he lamely fibbed.

She snorted, walking further into his room. She was still wearing her PJs – an oversized leafs shirt of his with blue flannel pants. Her hair was still messy from sleeping on it all night, and all Derek wanted to do was bring her into bed with him.

"Help me," he whined, reaching out his hands for her to grab.

"You're such a baby," she commented, but took his hands nonetheless with a small grin on her face.

But instead of pulling him up, he pulled her down.

"Oof," she let out as she landed on his chest roughly. "Der-ek!" she yelled between streams of giggles.

"Cas-ey," he mocked her, holding her close to him, causing a new wave of warmth to surround him. This wasn't helping his chances of getting out of bed, but he couldn't resist. Being home meant separate beds, and he missed her being with him like this every morning. He never thought he'd miss school so much.

"Marti is going to come back up soon and you'll be in big trouble," Casey warned him.

Derek sighed. "Come outside with us?" he asked, jutting his lip out in a pout.

"I'd love to, but I can't," she responded sadly, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes at the touch. "Mom already recruited me for last minute shopping, and then we're going to be wrapping presents all day."

"Fun," he mumbled.

"You could always help with the wrapping," Casey added with a hopeful smile5225...2. "If we get the wrapping done early we could actually do something together."

Derek chuckled. "Don't think so. Wrapping is more of a chick thing."

Casey frowned at him, but ultimately dropped it. Derek was grateful. He didn't want to fight with her right now. Just hold her.

"I'm sure you'll have fun with Marti though," Casey assured her boyfriend.

"Yeah…but Marti will probably have me out there so long that I'll turn into Jack Frost."

Casey laughed. "Then I'll make sure to have hot cocoa and eskimo kisses ready," she promised, leaning down to rub her nose against Derek's to demonstrate.

Derek reached up and held her face in his hands delicately, observing her affectionately. 'God, he loved this woman,' he thought as he leaned upwards to kiss her.

Just as he was about to roll them over and maybe sneak some second-base action, Marti called up the stairs. "SMEREK! COME! ON!"

…

Running behind a set of bushes to hide, Derek took the moment to catch his breath. First, Smarti had him make a snowman, and now they've been playing snowball fight for about an hour. Man, he was _winded_. Did he have this much energy at her age? He doesn't remember.

"Gotcha!" her heard her little voice shriek before she squashed a fistful of snow on top of his head.

"Ahhh!" Derek let out dramatically, falling to the ground.

"Your turn to chase me!" Marti exclaimed, getting ready to run.

"Wait, wait, wait, Smarti," Derek said, stopping her. "Can we do something that doesn't involve running for a little while?"

Marti grabbed her chin in thought, thinking. "How about we make snow angels?"

Snow angels, eh? At least that meant he didn't have to get up. "Perfect, Smarti."

Marti laid down a few feet besides him and started to move her legs and arms up and down in the snow. He imitated the action so he could make his own. However, after a few seconds he was spent.

"What next, Smerek?" Marti then said, popping up beside him.

Closing his eyes, Derek sighed. "Can Smerek take a break for few minutes, Smarti? I'm a bit tired."

Marti sighed. "I guess…"

It must have only been a minute later when he felt a wet weight fall on his left leg. He opened his eyes and looked up to see his leg was covered fully with snow. Marti giggled when he caught her eye.

"Can I cover you in snow, like I cover you in sand when we're at the beach?"

Knowing it was either this or another hour of snowball fights, Derek agreed. He laid back, letting his little sister pile snow all over his body. It was a trade-off for both of them, really. She was still preoccupied and he had a few moments to regain his stamina.

15 minutes or so later, she announced she was finished. He titled his head as much as he could in his position and praised her work. However, the little punk was actually quite efficient; he couldn't budge.

"Alright, Marti, time to get all this snow off me," he strained, trying to move his shoulders a bit to jostle some of the snow. Nothing.

Suddenly, car doors shutting were heard near the front of the house. "Marti? Come inside now. I don't want you getting sick," he heard Nora's voice yell.

"Okay, Nora," Marti yelled back and obediently ran to go inside.

"Wait! Marti! No!" Derek tried, but Marti was already gone. "Great," Derek then muttered to himself. Not only had he learned that an 11 year old had better endurance than the Varsity hockey captain, but apparently he wasn't strong enough to lift some snow off himself either.

"Wow, you're really turning into Jack Frost," he heard Casey's say from in-front of him. "I didn't think you'd be serious about that."

"Oh, Case," Derek began, so thankful that his girlfriend had come to check up on him, "help me. I can't get out, and Marti abandoned me."

He heard her laugh, and suddenly she was kneeled down by his head. "It never ceases to amaze me how you end up in these type of situations…"

"I'm always quite surprised myself."

Casey looked over Marti's handiwork. "So, you really can't move at all?"

Derek struck her with a dubious look. "Do you really think I'd still be here if that wasn't the case?"

Casey shrugged, a devious smile playing at the corners of her lips. "So, you're kind of at my mercy, so to speak?" she said.

He narrowed his eyes, reading in-between the lines - oh, he taught her well. "What do you want?"

"Say you'll help wrap presents," she lightly demanded.

Derek rolled his eyes. "I told you, that's a chick thing. Guys don't wrap presents."

"Oh, okay" Casey said, getting up. She brushed the snow off her pants.

"What are you doing?" Derek questioned, panic rising.

"Going inside," Casey answered, rubbing her arms. "It's getting really cold."

"Case, you have to help me!" he hollered when she turned to walk away.

"Well, you see," she began, shrugging her shoulders, "saving damsels in distresses is more of a dude thing, so…" she smiled sympathetically, before turning away once again.

"Casey!" Derek yelled in a panic. "CASEY! CASEY, YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

"Love you too, Derek," he heard her say distantly.

"CASEY! CASEY, I'LL WRAP THE DAMN PRESENTS!" he screamed, trying and failing to wiggle himself out. "CASEY!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Of course Casey went back right after that. She wouldn't leave Derek out there. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!

Happy Holidays!


	5. Baby, It's Cold Outside: Part 2

"And that's the last one!" Nora proclaimed, tapping down the last flap for the last present that needed wrapping.

"Yes!" Derek celebrated as he fell listlessly on the couch. "I don't think I can feel my fingers anymore."

Both Nora and Casey stopped cleaning up momentarily to share an amused look before shaking their heads at Derek's theatrics. "Why don't you make some hot chocolate, Der."

"But _Cas-ey_ ," he whined.

Casey looked at him pointedly. " _Derek_."

"Fine, fine, I'm going," he said, getting up from the couch to head to the kitchen.

Edwin, who had been watching TV, observed the scene unfold with amazement. "Wow, Casey. And we thought Derek was whipped when he was with Sally, but you take the cake!"

"I heard that, Edwin!" Derek voiced hollered from in the kitchen.

Edwin's eyes grew ten times larger. "Gotta go," he yelped as he quickly ran up the stairs.

Casey laughed at the display before preceding to clean up the extra scraps of wrapping paper with her mother.

"Whew," Nora let out with a short laugh, blowing a stray hair to the side. "Well, I think I'm ready for bed," she said. Her mother then walked over to her, wrapping her securely in her arms. "Thanks again, Casey."

"No problem, mom," Casey answered.

Nora leaned back, accessing her eldest. It almost looked like she had tears in her eyes. Casey looked at her, confused. "Everything alright, mom?"

Her smile was watery. "Perfect," she stated, winking at her before taking strides to the kitchen, biding Derek a good night, and going down to her bedroom.

A few minutes later, Derek came back in the room with two mugs of hot chocolate for them. "You okay," he immediately asked, probably noticing the confusion on her face.

"Yeah…" Casey let out, furrowing her brow. "My mom was just acting really weird. Like she was sad, but in a happy way – if that makes sense."

Derek placed their hot chocolates carefully on the coffee table. "Maybe she just really missed you. It is our first Christmas since graduating college and we haven't been home as often."

"Maybe," Casey said, plopping down on the couch tiredly. "Come here, Der," she said quietly, patting the spot next to her.

He happily obliged as he settled himself next to his girlfriend. Casey immediately hiked her feet up and over his lap, scooting closer so that she could wrap her arms around his neck and lay on his chest. Derek wrapped his arms around her and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

"Am I out of the doghouse now?" he joked.

Casey detached herself enough to view him. "Did you learn your lesson?"

He sighed. "Don't genderize," he spoke with a monotone air.

"Right!" she praised, kissing him along his jaw-line. She threaded her hands through his hair, enticing a small groan of satisfaction out of him. "Long day?" Casey questioned with a chuckle.

"Mmhmm," he hummed out, leaning into her warm hand. "Turning into a human popsicle and then having your girlfriend force you to wrap presents for the rest of the night is not a good combo."

Casey giggled. "Sorry about that, but you saw how many presents we had! We needed help and no one was budging!"

This time Derek laughed. "Hey, don't be sorry for seizing an opportunity," he said with a smirk, gently kneading her back. "I would have done it too," he admitted. "Though…I would have bribed you to have sex in that igloo Edwin and Lizzie made yesterday instead of gift wrapping."

"Der-ek!" Casey quietly hollered, her face scrunching up in hilarity. "That would be way too cold!"

"You'd just have to lay down a blanket and keep the clothes shedding to a minimal," he answered simply, shrugging. Casey gave him a dubious look. "What? You said no sex in our parent's house. You can't blame a guy for trying to find an alternative!"

Casey shook her head with a grin forcing its way across her face. "You're unbelievable."

Derek chuckled into her neck, leaving a tingling sensation behind. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"A bad thing for my sanity, maybe," she joked, he grinned. She cupped his face in her hands, rubbing her thumbs over his cheeks soothingly. "Because for some reason, I love you so much."

His eyes softened, before leaning down and capturing her lips with his tenderly. The action caused Casey to sigh happily. "I love you too," he spoke as he rubbed his nose affectionately against hers.

He's been saying those three words to her for almost 3 years now, but she always seemed to get goosebumps when he said them to her.

She maneuvered herself so she was now straddling his lap. She began kissing up his neck and across his jaw, until finally settling on his lips. The kiss continued, deepening as she prodded his mouth open and made their tongues duel. She could briefly feel Derek trail his hands from the small of her back down to her rear, giving her a soft squeeze that made her giggle against his mouth at the action. In return, she grinded her pelvis against his, eliciting a moan from the back of Derek's throat.

They kissed for a few more minutes before Derek broke away. "Whoa, there," he said breathlessly through a chuckle. "Maybe we should, you know, calm down a bit." He swallowed over his next breath. "Or else we're gonna end up having sex on our parent's living room couch, which I don't think they'll appreciate."

Casey blushed as she nodded, knowing he was right. She sighed wistfully. "I guess we should get to bed then. It's almost mid-night and Marti will be knocking on our doors to wake us up early again."

Derek's eye bulged. "But we have to drink our hot chocolates first!" he exclaimed, nodding over to their drinks.

Casey raised her eyebrow questionably. "Okay…" she said slowly.

"Well…um," he began, stuttering, "you don't want to waste it. Liz would have our heads."

Casey eyed her boyfriend oddly before rearranging herself to her previous cuddling position. She then reached out for a mug, but Derek stopped her.

"The other one," he insisted, and hastily picked up the one she was going for. She again gave him another peculiar look to which he replied. "this one has more whipped cream."

She rolled her eyes. She really was in love with a man child.

Derek quickly chugged his down, looking at her expectantly. She guessed he really did want to do the igloo thing, so she began to drink quicker too. However, near the end of her cup, a really hard object entered her mouth.

"Eww," she said, quickly fishing out whatever was in her mouth.

Looking at the foreign object, her heart nearly stopped. "Der?"

She looked up to find him in front of her, on one knee, smirking nervously at her. "Marry me, princess?"

Tears poured down her face as she flung herself at him. "Yes!" However, she quickly recoiled. "Wait, did you have this planned?"

Derek nodded. "I talked it over with your mom yesterday. Said I wanted to propose to you tonight," he confessed, grabbing her hand to place the ring on her left ring finger. He chuckled. "That's probably why she was an emotional mess before she went to bed, knowing that this was going to happen."

"Oh, my God! And I left you out in the snow today!" she exclaimed, feeling terribly guilty. She was a horrible girlfriend. Why did he still want to marry her? "I have to repay you!"

Derek chuckled at her hysterics. "We've already been over this, it's fine," he said, trying to placate his now fiancé. "And it was only for like 2 minutes anyway."

"No, no, I need to redeem myself," she said, getting up from the couch to make her way to the door and grab her coat.

"What are you doing?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Grab that blanket off the couch! We're going to have wild and passionate post–engagement sex in the igloo!" she replied.

Derek stared at her a moment. He opened his mouth to say something, but at the last moment thought better of it before snatching the blanket and rushing to her side and out the door.

* * *

 **A/N:** So yeah, this is a continuation of the last one-shot. Hope that you all enjoyed it. PLEASE REVIEW with your thoughts. I'm also still taking ideas if you have any winter/christmas prompts or ideas or something.

Happy Holidays!


	6. She's Got A Boyfriend Now

"Hey, Casey," a co-worker of Casey's greeted as they strolled up to her desk.

Taking a moment to divert her attention from the latest article she was writing, Casey looked over at the chipper, red-head that she had grown close to since starting her job at the local newspaper office. "Hey, Jane. What's up?"

Jane perched herself on the corner of Casey's desk. "Was just wondering if you were going to Don's Christmas party tonight?"

Casey made a face. Don was their boss and, while he was a relatively good boss, Casey had a suspicion that he kind of had a crush on her. "I don't know…" she answered unsurely.

"Come on!" Jane insisted, jumping down from her seat. "You can't leave me to stew in the awkwardness alone."

Casey laughed. "Then don't go, like me. Maybe the two of us could just hit the town instead."

"Casey," Jane drawled out, "do you know what happened to his last assistant that didn't go to his Christmas party?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "What?"

"She didn't come back after the holiday," she replied. "Completely got the boot! Do you want me to get the boot?!"

Casey swatted her friend away. "You're not going to get the boot. Stop being paranoid."

"Please!" Jane pleaded, giving Casey her patented puppy eyes.

The brunette tried to stay strong, but her resolve soon dissolved. "Fine," she said, turning away from her friend. "I'll go to the party."

"Are we talking about my party?" a more masculine voice said, suddenly breaking into the conversation.

"Don!" Casey exclaimed, plastering on a big smile. "Yes, yes we're talking about your party."

Don beamed. "Great! That's actually why I came over here."

"Oh?" Casey let out nervously. She briefly glanced over Don's shoulders at Jane, trying to send a help signal.

"Yeah, I was kind of wondering if you would accompany me," he stated. "Maybe like a date."

"Oh, Don," Casey began, biting her lip. "I would love that but…"

"She has a boyfriend!" Jane supplied from behind.

Don whirled around to view the red-head. "Boyfriend?" He turned back to Casey. "You have a boyfriend?"

"Y-yeah," Casey stuttered out. "It's a new-ish relationship," she fibbed.

"Oh," Don said dejectedly. Casey almost felt sorry for the guy, but he was her boss, and not to mention 20 years older than her. "Well, I can't wait to meet him tonight."

Casey's eyes bulged. "Excuse me? Tonight?"

"You're going to bring him to the party, right?" Don wondered. "I'd love to meet the guy who swept you off your pretty little feet."

Casey nervously giggled. "Yeah! Of course my boyfriend will be there."

"Great!" he said. "See you all then!" He flashed both Casey and Jane a smile before walking in the direction of his office.

When Don was a far enough distance away, Jane sat back down on Casey's desk. "You don't happen to actually have a secret boyfriend, do you?" Jane wondered.

"No!" Casey exclaimed, letting her head fall down on her desk. "What am I going to do? I can't not show up because then he's going to keep badgering me. And if I then fail to come up with a boyfriend, he'll know I was lying."

Jane paced back and forth the length of her desk. "Do you have any guys who would be willing to be a fake date? Someone that owes you a favor?"

Casey shook her head when no names came to mind. "I'm so screwed."

Buzz buzz buzz buzz

Casey's cellphone vibrated on her desk. She looked at her caller screen and saw Derek's name. Casey rolled her eyes. "One moment, Jane. Stepbrother's calling."

Casey picked up her phone. "What do you want, Derek?"

"Hey, Casey! How's work?" he asked, a little too jubilantly.

"Fine…" she let out hesitantly. "What'd you call for Derek?"

"Well, I kinda have a hypothetical problem," he started. "Now, if I were to, hypothetically of course, put my red shirt in with your whites, would there be a way to reverse that? Hypothetically."

"Der-ek!" she quietly shrieked. "You did not just turn all my whites pink! Again!"

"So I'm guessing that's a no?"

"No! You can't reverse it," she exclaimed. "Oh, Derek…"

"Sorry," he said, and she would have accepted that if he didn't sound on the verge of laughter. "But hey, at least you like pink."

"Not for all my wardrobe!"

"Fine! Fine!" he relented. "I'll buy you all new clothes if you want. I'll buy you new shoes. Just name your price? I'll do it."

A very dangerous light bulb then appeared over Casey's head. "Derek, are you doing anything tonight?"

"Uh, no," he answered warily. "Why?"

…

Casey drove up to the home that was apparently Don's house. "Here we are," she said, shutting off the engine, but she made no move to get out of the car.

Derek furrowed his brows. "Are we going in?" Derek wondered aloud, confused as to why they were still sitting there.

Casey gripped the steering wheel as she bit her lip nervously. "I might have asked you to come for a very particular reason…"

Derek raised a single eyebrow, turning to face his stepsister. "Somewhat figured there had to be a catch," he admitted. "So, why am I really here?"

Casey fidgeted in her seat, refusing to meet his eyes. "I asked you to come so you could pretend to be my boyfriend."

They fell into a thick silence as Derek processed what Casey just told him. When it finally registered to him what she had said, he exclaimed, "WHAT?"

"I know, I know!" Casey exclaimed frantically. "It's just my boss has this weird, creepy crush on me, and he asked me to be his date for the party, but I didn't want to go with him. So, I lied and said I had a boyfriend, only then my boss said he wanted to meet said boyfriend. And I had no one else to ask on such short notice-"

Derek threw his hand over her mouth, silencing her. "Yeah, I think I get it." He dropped his hand from her mouth.

"I know it's asking a lot, but there's sure to be loads of food and alcohol to make this somewhat bearable."

"Okay," he said simply, opening his car door. "Let's go."

"Let's go?" she asked astonished, stepping out of her own door to continue talking to him over the top of the car. "You're okay with this?" She figured he'd need more persuasion.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Case, we're already here," he said, rounding the car to meet her at the front. "Plus, I owed you a favor, so here it is," he replied. "And like you said, there's going to be lots of food and booze."

"Yeah," she conceded, "but you're going to have to act like you like me. Like me enough to be my boyfriend."

Derek buried his hands in his jean pockets and shrugged. "Worse things have happened."

…

"Casey!" Jane exclaimed, throwing her arms around her in an excited hug. "I'm so glad you came." She then stepped closer and whispered in her ear, "and who's the hottie behind you?"

Casey internally groaned, because did _everyone_ have to find him so good-looking. "Jane, this is Derek," she said introducing her co-worker to her stepbrother. "And Derek, this is Jane. She's one of my co-workers."

Derek smiled warmly at Jane as he took the red-head's hand to shake. "Case has mentioned you a few times. You're quite the firecracker, eh?" he spoke, his smirk surfacing.

Jane blushed, causing Casey to roll her eyes. He was supposed to act like her boyfriend, not flirt with other girls. He should be flirting with her! For the act…of course.

"I'm going to get something to drink," Derek announced. "Can I get you ladies something?"

Jane shook her head, but Casey asked for eggnog.

As he left, Jane turned to Casey. "Is he the same Derek you're always talking about at work, you know, the stepbrother?"

Casey sighed. "I was desperate. And I do not always talk about him!"

This time Jane was the one to roll her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped as she spotted Don walking their way. "Don alert," she was able to blurt out before the man was before them.

"Casey! You're here! So glad you could make it," he said warmly. "No boyfriend though, I see," he added, looking in her vicinity for any man that could possibly be her boyfriend.

"I was just getting my lady something to drink," Casey then heard Derek say. He held out her eggnog for her to take and then with that free hand went to shake Don's. "Derek Venturi."

"Don Walters," Don said, obviously displeased. "Wait, aren't you a forward for the Leafs?"

"That I am," Derek replied, beaming with pride.

"So," Don began, eyeing the pair, "if you don't mind me asking, how did you two meet? You don't seem to have that much in common," he said with a humorous chuckle.

Derek politely chuckled, draping his arm over her shoulders. "We met in high school, actually."

Don frowned. "Casey said this was a _new_ relationship…"

"And it is," Derek agreed with her boss as he started to rub her one shoulder reassuringly. Casey wasn't sure if he was doing it to put on a show or doing it because he could tell how tense she was, but she was grateful nonetheless. "See, we met in high school, but I wasn't able to reel her in until recently."

"Oh?" Don let out, interested.

"Yeah," Derek began, no doubt feigning embarrassment, "I kind of picked on her in high school, and most of university, actually," he admitted with a sheepish grin. "I called her names, pulled pranks – you name it. Whatever I could do to get her attention."

Don surprisingly laughed. "The ol' pulling the pigtails? I used to do that to a lot of the girls I liked."

Her stepbrother nodded. "I guess it worked eventually," Derek said, winking at her boss. "Right, hun?" he asked, looking at her intently. His gaze looked ridiculously soft.

They shared a meaningful look, before Casey shook her head and faced her boss. "I assure you, the pulling pigtails wasn't what worked."

Don burst out into a fit of laughter. "So what did work? Eh, Casey?"

"Well," Casey started, fumbling. "He's – he's just a good guy…and I know I can trust him and he's always been there for me when I needed him…So…why not him?" she said, trailing off thoughtfully. She could feel Derek's gaze, but for some reason she was scared to look at him.

"Don!" someone from across the room yelled.

"Looks like I'm needed over there," Don said, nodding over to the voice "But I do want to hear the rest of your story. I'll be back later," he promised, before leaving.

Casey let out a huge breath. She stepped out of Derek's hold and turned to him. "Good thinking on your feet, D. I never would have been able to lie like that."

"Hmm?" he hummed out, before realizing what she said. "Oh! Yeah, yeah. Lord of the lies, right? I'm going to refill my cup," he said hurriedly before rushing away.

Casey looked at Derek's retreating figure confusingly. "But he barely drank…" she observed, pointing that out to Jane.

When she turned to Jane, the red-head was looking at her funny. "What?" she asked.

"He's probably too nervous to stay, in case you figured out he wasn't lying."

"Wait, what?" Casey asked, puzzled by what her friend was implying.

" _Oh my God, Casey_!" Jane frustratingly hollered. "You have got to be the most oblivious person on this planet!"

Casey gawked at her friend and co-worker. "I resent that."

" _Casey!_ Derek is in love with you!" Jane exclaimed. "You could spot those love eyes a mile away by the way he looks at you, not to mention he basically just admitted that he made fun of you because he liked you."

Casey shook her head. "He was just acting - lying. He doesn't love me."

"He went to the same university as you!"

"They gave him a good scholarship!" Casey defended.

Jane snorted. "Queen's was the only university that would give him a good scholarship?" she asked doubtfully. Casey stayed silent, not knowing how to rebuff that. "Face it! He went to Queen's because that's where you were going."

"He probably just wanted to have a familiar face at school," she lamely commented.

"Fine. Say he didn't go to Queen's because of you. But then why do you still hang out so much? Didn't I hear you on the phone with him, complaining about him doing your laundry wrong?" Jane asked. "Who in their right mind does laundry for someone they claim to hate?"

"Well," Casey said, crossing her arms over her chest. "It was partially his laundry too since he lives there."

"Wait," Jane said, taking a step back. "He lives with you?!" Casey apprehensively nodded. "Oh my, God!"

"What?" Casey pressed.

"Derek's practically a millionaire. A sexy, single millionaire. So, pray tell, why doesn't he have a very cool, modern, bachelor's pad?" her friend asked.

Casey had always wondered herself why he never moved out. They had both gotten their place when they were straight out-of-college, broke adults. Yet, when he signed the contract with the Leafs and the money started rolling in, he still didn't leave. And every time she would ask, he would give the same excuse. "He said it's practical, since he's on the road so much…"

" _Casey!_ " her friend stressed again.

Casey quickly found a free seat nearby, suddenly feeling faint. What if he had been making fun of her because he was thriving for her attention? What if he went to Queen's because he wanted to be near her? What if he still hadn't moved out of their apartment because he loved her?

"Case, Casey, are you okay?" she then heard a voice ask her. She looked up and saw Derek's concerned gaze. "Why are you crying?" he asked gently.

Casey quickly felt her cheek, having not even realized she was crying.

"Hey, talk to me. What's going on?" he asked, his worriedness growing as he wiped away a few stray tears from her face.

The gesture made her cry even harder.

"Why do you make fun of me?" she managed to ask after a few moments.

Derek jolted back, stunned by the random question. "Because it's amusing," he answered with an amused grin.

"Why did you go to Queen's? Why are you still at our crappy apartment?"

Derek scrunched his face up in confusion. "Why are you asking me all these questions? You know why!"

"Why did you agree to go to this party so easily? Even after I told you the truth!" Casey demanded. She was so frustrated – at him, at herself; she just wanted answers.

Derek rapidly stood up, tugging at his hair nervously. "Because – because I've been waiting to see if you'll ever start to give a damn about me!" he admitted maddeningly.

Casey was stunned into silence.

Her stepbrother rubbed at his face, trying to wipe away his stress. "But I guess, that's clearly never going to happen."

With that he walked away, making a beeline towards the kitchen area.

Casey looked over at Jane, who had been standing nearby for the whole exchange. Her mouth was opened wide in shock. When she finally snapped out of her stupor, she grabbed Casey's arm and hauled her to her feet. "Go after him!" she urged.

Casey shook her head. "I don't even know I feel about him," she explained doubtfully.

Jane quickly gave her a disbelieving face. " _Girl_ , really?"

"Fine," Casey muttered before following the steps she saw Derek take a few minutes earlier.

He was there, brandishing a beer and boringly chatting to some guy near the fridge. When she entered, he looked over at her, making eye-contact, but quickly looked away afterwards.

Casey sighed as she walked over to the two men. "Can I talk to him?" she asked politely, pointing to Derek. The other man immediately left, giving them the room.

"Derek."

"Yeah?" he said plainly, looking down at his beer intently.

Casey bit her lip. "I-"

"Ah, there you two are!" Don exclaimed, coming into the room, breaking the moment. "I was afraid I missed you."

Casey smiled at her boss politely, while Derek downed the rest of his beer.

"So, shall we meet where we last left off? How'd you get together?" Don asked excitedly.

It was bit weird how invested he was in their (unknowingly fake) relationship and it must have shown on their faces because Don quickly backpedaled. "Sorry, am I being too intrusive? It's just, I love a good love story and it's hard not to tell that you two have is really special."

Casey felt herself blushing all over. She peeked over at Derek to even see a blush creeping up to his cheeks too.

"So? How'd you get together?" Don prompted.

"Casey could probably tell the story better," Derek said bitterly, leaving her to come up with something, knowing she couldn't lie. Gah, she wanted to scream at him, but that is when she had an idea.

"Actually, we got together at a Christmas party," Casey explained. Don gave her a smile, encouraging her to continue, while Derek looked at her bewilderingly from the side. "See, I needed a date to this party at the very last second, so...I asked him. Surprisingly, he said yes."

Casey anxiously swallowed as nerves were pinching her stomach and her hands were starting to shake. "And as the night progressed, he actually told me how he felt, and I had come to realize that I literally couldn't think of a life without him..."

At this point she had stopped talking to her boss and started talking directly to Derek. "I was scared out of my mind with these revelations, but I needed him to know that I did love him. And that I was so so sorry for taking so long to realize that he was the one."

Casey broke off her sentence with a sob, but she was soon in Derek's arms. He held her tightly against him as he rubbed her back and whispered, "It's okay, it's okay," softly into her ear, over and over again until she was able to calm down.

"She always gets emotional when retelling it," Derek said, noticing the tremendous concern her boss had on his face at Casey's meltdown. "But, to briefly summarize what happened next: She told me, we kissed, muah, and the end!" he finished quickly.

Don nodded numbly, before awkwardly dipping out of the kitchen to give them some space.

"Case?" Derek softly said, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Did you mean it?"

Casey closed her eyes at the vulnerability in his voice. High school Casey would've felt triumphant at the sound, but all it made present Casey feel was guilty that she made him wait so long for her to get her shit together.

"Yes," she said, her voice cracking again as a few more tears slipped out from under her eyes.

"Being in love with me isn't that horrible, is it?" he half-joked, gauging her messed up state.

"No, no," she reassured with a waterly laugh. "There's just so many emotions whirling around in me right now. It's very overwhelming."

"Well, can you stop for two seconds so that I can kiss you?" he asked, chuckling. "I love you, but I don't love your snot enough to kiss it."

Casey giggled some more, as she tried to clean up her face quickly with an unused napkin that was nearby. "Better?" she asked, looking up at him almost in a whole new light.

"Perfect," Derek whispered before closing the gap.

Muah. The End.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yeah, this was posted A LOT later than usual. But it's about a half-hour before midnight where I live, so I still made the deadline! Lol. Whew! So, PLEASE REVIEW with your thoughts. This took me FOREVER to write, but I really like it.

Happy Holidays!


	7. Good Morning

**A/N:** Warning! This particular one-shot is NSFW. It is Rated M for sexual situations! Proceed with caution if that's not your cup of tea.

* * *

"Mmm," Derek let out contently. He opened his bleared eyes and saw his beautiful wife next to him, still sleeping soundly.

Derek wrapped his arm around her waist, trying to steal some of her warmth to fight off the slight chill that creeped into their bedroom overnight. The action caused her to stir and wake.

"Mornin'," she let out groggily, her eyes still half asleep.

Derek chuckled then kissed her fully on the mouth. "Christmas morning to be exact," he said against her lips, before kissing them again.

As they separated, Derek continued to pepper kisses over her face, then down her neck. Once he reached her collarbone, his wife let out a satisfying moan. "Der…ek," she let out sensually. He smirked. After breaking his name in two for years, this had to be his favorite way, hands down.

His hands left her waist and crept up her night shirt, causing her to shiver. As he reached her breast, he found her nipple was already fully erect. "Aren't you perky this morning," he murmured against the base of her neck.

"More like your hands are damn cold," Casey said, but leaned into his touch nevertheless.

Her own hands wandered over his bare chest as she hiked one leg over his waist, grinding her hips against his. Derek let out a deep embedded groan. The material of his pajama pants weren't that thick and neither were hers.

He rolled them over, pinning her back to the bed. He then hiked her shirt up, making her lift her arms in the air so he could throw the item off her and languidly to the floor.

Derek leaned forward, kissing Casey deeply and sensually. He rocked his hips against hers a few times, eliciting a few breathy pants from his wife as she dug her nails into his back.

He moved downward – kissing below her jaw, at the base of her neck, and to the swell of her breast. Once at her breast, he spent a couple moments kissing around the areola before licking then sucking on the pert nipple. Immediately afterwards, he did the same routine to her second breast.

" _Der_ ," she whispered, not able to say his whole name under the sensation she was under. She raised her hips against his, needing the friction to relieve some of the want.

He smirked as he kissed down her stomach and across the band of her pajama pants. He pulled down her pants, along with her underwear, and licked her clit once, causing her to let out a small, "ooh."

They locked eyes as he pulled her legs apart and position his head In between.

"Is this supposed to be your Christmas present to me, because you couldn't find something at the store?" she asked breathily, trying not to concentrate on the heat coming from his breath and hitting her loins.

"Don't worry," he said, winking, "there's something for you under that tree too."

Without further warning, Derek began to lick and lap at the soft, pink flesh between Casey's legs. Casey immediately threw her head and reached for their bed's sheets in an effort to control herself.

" _Ohhh_ ," she moaned out, "Ohh, Der… _ek_!"

Derek continued until her toes started curling and her hips began to rise, then he stopped, instantly causing her to whimper in protest.

"In due time, my princess," he promised softly, crawling over her completely naked body and kissing her on the lips intoxicatingly.

As the kiss deepened, Casey glided her hand down his pants and gently moved her fingers over the skin of his erect cock, letting the pad of her thumb roll over the head. As an instinct, Derek pumped himself in her palm. " _Fuuuuck_ ," he gasped out.

Becoming impatient, the duo both worked together to rid Derek of his pants, where they soon joined their other clothing on the floor.

Now with his pants off, Casey continued to touch Derek, pumping her hand up and down his penis,. " _God, Casey_!" he moaned out.

He put her hand on hers to still her actions. They were both more than ready to begin the real fun.

Derek quickly positioned himself in between Casey again, and was just about to enter when they heard a, "MOMMY! DADDY!"

Derek quickly covered his wife with his body and the covers, shielding her from their son who blasted through their room not a moment later.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" the four-year old exclaimed.

"Yes, it is Jason," Casey replied to her son politely behind the back of her husband. It was hard to be mad at the little boy, even in their current situation.

Jason then looked at his parents perplexedly. "Are you kissing Mommy, Daddy?" he wondered with an innocent giggle.

"I am," Derek answered back. "Why don't you go downstairs and get everything ready while I finish kissing Mommy? Okay, buddy?"

"Okay, Daddy," he said happily. They could hear his little pitter-patters going down the stairs after a few seconds.

"That was _bad_ , Derek," she chastised him, lightly slapping his back.

Derek rolled back around, resuming his last position before his son's interruption. "You know you want me to finish _kissing_ you," he spoke huskily.

"Yes, yes, I do," she let out impatiently, wrapping her legs around his waist in an effort to help things along. "Now quick, before he comes back up!"

* * *

 **A/N:** How was it? I don't think I've written a NSFW piece for Dasey yet, at least not like this, so how was it? Hopefully you enjoyed it. PLEASE REVIEW with you thoughts. ;)

Happy Holidays!


	8. Let It Snow

Using her spare key, Casey popped open the Prince's trunk to place in her belongings. She and Derek had just gotten done the last of their finals the day before and they were supposed to be leaving in 10 minutes to head home for the winter break.

Casey looked around, but she didn't see Derek's mopped head anywhere in sight. Then again, he was never Mr. Punctual, so she thought she'd wait in the car for him to arrive.

However, minutes passed, their designated meet up time came and went, and Derek was still a no show. Rolling her eyes, she exited the Prince and stalked over to his dorm building.

"I swear," Casey muttered as she stepped on the elevator, hitting his floor number, "if I have to rip his lips off of some girl, I am going to _kill_ him!" she vowed.

When the elevator dinged and she stepped on to his floor, it was eerily silent and bare. Casey scoffed thinking how everyone _but_ Derek must have left.

"Derek?" she called out, knocking on his door.

"Come in!" she heard him shout from inside.

As she entered she was met with the sight of Derek crowded around his tiny TV playing the newest Babe Raider videogame. He was only clad in his boxers, and the view made Casey blush. She looked away.

"Derek, what are you doing? We have to leave."

"Chill," he said as he quickly pressed odd combinations of buttons to achieve a certain move. "We're not leaving until 12. I have plenty of time."

"Derek!" Casey stressed. "It's almost one!"

Derek glanced over at his alarm clock and immediately sprang out of his chair, shutting the game console off. "Shit!"

He started grabbing random stuff around the room and shoving it into a duffel bag. "Can you help get the last of my stuff in this bag?" he asked Casey in his frenzy.

Casey rolled her eyes, but picked up a few of his things and placed them into the bag.

"Damn, Case, you're so slow," Derek remarked with a chuckle, seeing as she barely made any progress after a few minutes.

"Sorry if I like to make sure things are put away nicely," she defended herself. "Plus, would it kill you to put on some clothes?" she pointed out.

Derek looked down at his undressed state and smirked. "Oh, is that what's got you so distracted? Can't say that I blame you."

Casey's face scrunched in disgust. "In your dreams, you pig. I'll be in the Prince waiting. Don't take too long," she said, walking out of Derek's dorm room. "It's supposed to start snowing soon."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Derek said wavering her off as he continued to pack.

…

"Der," Casey said, looking out the passenger side window about an hour into the ride, "It's snowing."

"Yes, I'm very well aware of that, Case," Derek sarcastically said back. "I'm not driving with my eyes closed."

"You don't have to be so mean!" Casey hollered with a huff. "It was just an observation," she continued, softly and wistfully as she turned to gaze out the window again.

Derek glanced over at his stepsister serenely, before turning back to his driving with a sigh.

…

"It's really coming down now," Casey said about an hour later as she saw the snow falling thickly from the sky. "Maybe we should pull over somewhere and wait out the storm," Casey suggested anxiously.

"Case, we're fine," Derek assured her. "I've driven in worse."

…

"Man, I can't even see where I'm going," Derek said, straining to see the road in front of him. Within another hour, the snow started dropping non-stop. The Prince's windshield wipers could barely keep up.

"See, I told you we should have stopped when we could," Casey said. "Do you know if there is a motel or inn nearby that we can stop at?"

Derek shook his head. "I can't see a thing, Case."

Casey bit her lip worriedly. "Well, we have to stop somewhere. It's ridiculous out there and I don't feel safe driving anymore."

"Yeah, you're right," Derek reluctantly agreed.

They drove for another minute until Derek was able to make out a patch of road to pull over on.

"I guess now, we'll just have to wait," Derek said, placing the car into park.

…

"I'm cold," Casey said, trying to wrap her coat around her a little bit more. The Prince's heat was still on but night was falling and the temperatures were dropping outside, making the old car's heater almost obsolete.

"I have a couple blankets in the back from my dorm," Derek said, reaching in the back for them. He gave one to Casey and kept one for himself.

"It smells like you," she commented with a frown as she placed the blanket over her.

"Do you not want it then?" he asked, annoyed.

"No…" she replied quietly, holding it against her protectively.

She never said that it was a bad thing.

…

Derek shut the car off.

"Der-ek! What are you doing?" Casey demanded frantically. "Do you want us to freeze to death?!"

"Casey! The gas was practically on E! If I didn't shut it off now, we'd never be able to drive anywhere tomorrow to get gas to get home!" he yelled.

Casey sighed. "Well, we have to do something. I'm not going to stay warm like this for long."

Derek rubbed his temple in distress. "Why don't we both get in the back seat and share our blankets?" he suggested. "It's not ideal, but I can't think of anything better right now."

His stepsister nodded. "That's fine. Hopefully that'll do."

…

"Dammit," Derek muttered a little later. "I'm getting cold again."

"M-me too," Casey admitted, shivering. "Maybe if we get closer together, it will create more body heat," Casey said.

"Okay," he replied, scooting over so that most of their bodies aligned. "Hey! I think I might actually be working," Derek commented excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm a little bit warmer," she said, daring to snuggle further in his warmth.

…

Derek woke up as a sudden weight fell on his shoulder. He looked around frantically, forgetting where he was at first, but soon his eyes could see the outline of the figures in his car.

He then turned his head, trying to view his shoulder. However, Casey was currently occupying it in her sleep. He doesn't even remember when she fell asleep, or when he fell asleep, or who fell asleep first. All he knew was that he was still really tired, but they couldn't sleep like this, or else their necks would pay the price the next morning.

"Case," he let out softy, nudging his shoulder up, hoping the movement would wake her up if his voice didn't.

"Mmm?" Casey let out, but her eyes were still shut.

"Do you think we should try laying down?" Derek asked. "It might be easier to sleep like that."

Casey lifted her head her to look up at him, and he could just make out her face in the dark car.

"S-S-Sure."

…

It wasn't easier to sleep like that.

"This is awkward."

"Mmhmm."

They were currently spooning in the backseat. It happened to be the only way they could lay down while maximizing their body heat, or so Casey said when she was explaining it. To be fair, he was actually quite warm. And she was soft, which was good.

"You smell good," he blurted out, having just inhaled a wave of her scent.

"It's called deodorant, Derek. Maybe you should using some sometime."

"You don't have to be so mean. It was just an observation," he said, mocking her words from earlier.

…

Casey fidgeted. She stopped. Then she began fidgeting again.

Each time she moved, she ended up rubbing up against the front of him, which seemed to be having a _certain_ effect on him.

She fidgeted again.

"Casey! Stop moving would ya?"

"Well sorry! But I'm getting really uncomfortable in this single position and…" she trailed off suddenly. "…Oh…"

Derek's entire face felt like it was on fire from the embarrassment. Sure it wasn't the first time he popped a boner over Casey, but it was surely the first time she knew about one, let alone felt it.

He was only hoping that the blood rushing to his face, would help drain the blood aiding his erection.

"Der," she began, and he knew she was going to try to talk to him, and he couldn't have that. Not when he had nowhere to escape and hide.

"I'm a guy. You're a chick. My dick doesn't know the difference," he lied, trying to defend himself.

"Wow, Derek. You should write poetry. So eloquent," she quipped.

…

"I really am getting uncomfortable now," Casey whined. Her back was aching for a new position to lay in.

"And you're telling me this because?"

"Because apparently I can't move without you getting horny," she bit out.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic," he said. "Why don't you turn on your other side? Would that be okay for our body heat and all?"

"You-You mean face you?" she asked, a hint of panic was underneath her tone, but Derek's shrugged it off, relating it to the cold.

"Yeah…" he let out slowly. "Come on," he encouraged, wrapping his two arms around her waist to help her move over.

She let out a tiny yelp at the sudden feel of his hands on her stomach, but she let herself turn over, trying to ignore just how fast her heart was beating.

When she was fully turned, Derek went to remove his hands, but Casey stopped the motion. "Can you keep them there?" she asked shyly. "I honestly feel like I'm going to fall off if you don't."

She was telling the truth. The new position, while good for her back, gave them less space to work with on the backseat. She was literally on the edge.

"Sure," he muttered, only maneuvering them to get them in a more comfortable position. Eventually both his hands met near the small of her back.

…

Minutes. Hours. They can't tell anymore. But some time had passed, before Derek heard a slight sniffle come from his companion.

"Case? Are you crying?" he wondered worriedly.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice breaking as she cried more freely. "It's just so dark and so cold. We don't know where we are or when the snow is going to stop…I'm scared…"

"Hey," Derek let out softly, rubbing his hand up and down her arm, trying to sooth her. "We're going to be alright."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked doubtfully, and, God, she sounded so small. He just wanted to hold her closer and hug her.

"Because, I'm Derek Venturi, and I always get what I want," he said, to which she giggled to. "Maybe you just need something to get your mind off of things."

"Like what?"

"Maybe we could try…talking?"

.

"So, are you still hoping you'll be a pro-hockey athlete?" Casey questioned.

Derek sighed. "More than anything," he let out. Casey could tell by the strong vindication in his voice that he was determined. "I know I can do it. It's just so damn hard trying to prove to everyone else that I can – my parents, my coaches, the scouts."

"At least you know what you want to do," Casey spoke up. "I feel like I have to be something prestigious, like a doctor or a lawyer. But I'm actually clueless as to what I'm really passionate about…"

"Maybe you should teach dance."

Casey paused, thinking it over in her mind. "Maybe."

.

"I'd want to fly," Derek answered.

"I'm surprised you wouldn't want your superpower to be invisibility, so you could walk into women's locker rooms," she joked.

Derek chuckled. "Hey, I don't have to be invisible to see women naked. It kinda just happens when I'm in the presence of most females."

"Sucha pig," he heard her mutter, but he could tell she was trying to contain herself from laughing.

.

"Edwin's been getting bullied."

"What?" Derek exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, Lizzie was telling me about it over the phone last week," she mentioned sadly.

"Why didn't he say anything to me?" Derek wondered sadly.

"He's probably too embarrassed to tell you," Casey guessed. "You were so cool, and he probably feels like he'd be letting you down."

Derek shook his head. "I'll have to talk to him when we get home."

.

"They had been fighting for months. Non-stop. Over my mom going back to school. It got really ugly to be around," Derek said, describing the events that led up to his parent's divorce. "She felt that she was nothing but a housewife and wanted to make something of herself, but all that my dad was asking her was to wait a few more years, when we had more money and when Marti wasn't so young, but she didn't want to. So, she left."

Casey wound her arms around his middle, making them closer. "I'm sorry."

.

"My dad was a work-a-holic. Actually, he still very much is," Casey began with an empty chuckle. "He was gone so much that I hadn't even realized he left until I walked into my parent's closet one day and saw all of his stuff gone…"

Derek could see his stepsister swallow down emotion. "He never really said goodbye."

.

"I don't get why people like to have pets."

"I know, right?" Casey agreed. "I mean, looked what that 'Bob' situation got us in! And he wasn't even real!"

Derek chuckled, remembering fondly on those memories. "Plus, you constantly have to worry about feeding them and taking them out. If I wanted a living thing to take care of, I'd just have a baby."

Casey snorted. "You can barely take care of yourself."

"Exactly!" Derek exclaimed. "And then there's the shedding problem most of them have."

"Ahh! The shedding!"

.

"I saw, on the school website, that you were in a play?"

"Yeah, it was called 'So Be It'," Casey supplied.

She saw the outline of his mouth frown. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't think you'd care or want to come," she answered with a small shrug. Derek could feel her playing with the material of his hoodie.

"I would have come."

.

"Do you wish that my mom had never married your dad?" she asked quietly.

Derek let out a loud exhale. "Sometimes."

"Yeah?"

Derek nodded his head. "I mean, your mom makes me dad very happy. And I'm grateful for that, but…"

"But?" she prompted.

"But…but it's hard. Especially when I'm around you. Because a lot of the time…"

"Der?" she called out when she realized he stopped. "What? You can tell me."

She could feel his heart starting to beat quickly. "Because I want to be able to hold you like this, without the excuse of a raging blizzard. I want to cheer you on at your plays and have you cheer me on in my games. I want to talk to you for hours – about the good, bad and funny. Hell, I'd want a high maintenance dog who sheds non-stop if it was just ours," he stopped, taking a shaky breath. "Case, I just want you," he whispered.

The silence rang between them. Derek was freaking out, not believing that he actually told her what he had been hiding for the last couple years now.

Unexpectedly, cold lips were pressed against his. He promptly moved one hand to cup her face as he responded back.

"I want you too."

…

Light was irritating her eyes. She wanted someone to shut it off, she was trying to finally sleep.

Casey then sprung awake, realizing what this meant. "Derek," she said, shoving his shoulder excitedly. "It's morning!"

Derek rubbed his eyes, trying to fully wake up. When he too realized it was finally day, he sat up. "Wanna see how bad it is outside?" he asked his stepsister.

She bit her lip, but nodded.

…

It took a couple tries, but Derek eventually was able to open the driver's door. It obviously had snowed a lot. His whole car was covered with at least a foot of it. He began to brush off the snow, knowing if they were going to leave, it would need to be done.

"Der," Casey said, trying to gain his attention. "Look!"

There, right next to where they had parked for the night, was a gas station. And right behind the gas station, an inn with their vacancy sign flashing.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks to MissManders27972 for providing me with this little prompt. If you have a prompt that you think would be a cute Dasey holiday oneshot, let me know!

On another note: _GUYS_ , I hate to sound annoying, but if you're reading this, PLEASE REVIEW! I don't want to sound ungrateful, but if you're honestly enjoying these oneshots, can it really hurt to let a girl know? And not just for my stories, but do it for everyone. If you read a story/chapter, especially if you read something you like, leave a review. It means the world to the writer. Honestly. :)

Okay, I'm done rambling. Sorry. Thanks to the people who have reviewed. Virtual kisses (of the chocolate variety) all around. You guys are what give me the bit of motivation I do have to finish these. Lol

Happy Holidays!


	9. Smile for the Camera

"Caseyyyy," Derek whined, "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes," Casey spoke resolutely, dragging him by the arm to enter the photo studio.

Casey wanted to get a Christmas portrait done so she could send them out as holiday cards. She always wanted to do them ever since she was a little girl, but it never came about.

But now that Derek and Casey were newly married, she wanted to form a new tradition that they could continue for years to come as they grew their family. However, her husband was being a big pain in the ass about the whole ordeal.

"They're just so corny and cheesy," he commented, watching the other families and couples get behind the camera to have their pictures taken.

"But it will provide great memories," Casey began. "Just think that years from now, we'll have a whole collection of them and get to see how we've grown," she finished, her eyes getting starry and cool blue in excitement at the thought.

Derek sighed, knowing this was a losing battle, especially with that look in her eyes. He'd never admit it out loud, but he was such a goner for those eyes. Actually, you could say he was whipped to the nth degree in general when it came to Casey. He had lost a lot of battles since they got together, especially more so when he put a ring on her and said 'I do', but he couldn't help it. He liked seeing her happy, despite his dignity taking a total nosedive sometimes.

"Fine," he said reluctantly, kissing the top of her head gently.

She turned to him, beaming. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she thanked him excitedly, before scurrying over to the front desk to make an appointment.

…

"Ahhhhhh!" Casey screamed.

Derek immediately rushed to the living room to see what the matter was, but Casey was merely staring at a box on her lap.

He walked closer to her. "Case, why'd you scream?"

"Our pictures came in!" she announced enthusiastically, waving one of them in the air.

"Oh," he let out, finally relaxing under the knowledge it wasn't something dire. "Did you have to scream like that? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry, Der," she said, contorting her face into a frown, obviously guilty about scaring him. "Come sit, though," she said, patting the cushion next to her.

He did as she said, and she instantly wrapped her arm around his and leaned against his shoulder.

"Look," she said, holding out the portrait picture. "Doesn't it look perfect? Gahh, I can't wait to send them out to everyone for the holidays!"

Derek took the picture in his hand, observing it. The corny factor was definitely there. The photographer had been adamant about them putting a wreath around their waists, to which Derek remembered asking why the hell someone would ever do that. But Casey merely glared at him, and the next thing he knew he had a wreath on him.

The background Casey chose was this white, barn thing that he still had no idea why that was even an option. It didn't make him think of Christmas, more like pigs and horses, but Casey thought it was romantic so he didn't dare say a word.

Overall it seemed like a good picture of them though. His smile looked a little stretched in the photo (since he was obviously faking his enjoyment), but Casey looked drop-dead amazing.

"I like it," Derek said simply, handing the photo back.

She clasped her hands together, looking at him imploringly with those damn eyes. "So…next year can we…?" she trailed off hopefully.

Derek rolled his eyes, but smiled at his wife's innocence. "Yes, we can get another one done next year," he told her. "And maybe even the year after that…"

She squealed before launching herself at him, kissing him fully on the mouth. "I knew there was a reason I loved you!"

"Well, I'm still trying to figure out why I love you," Derek joked, which resulted in Casey swatting him the couch pillow as he laughed.

* * *

 **A/N:** Short, but sweet. Right? PLEASE REVIEW with your thoughts :)

*Also, if you want to see what the picture (since I photoshopped one), you can find it on my tumblr, oopsydasey.


	10. (Secret) Santa Tell Me

Most of their friends from Queen's were over at Casey and Derek's joint apartment on campus for a small holiday party. It was supposed to be the last hurray for the semester before packing up and heading home the next day.

About half way through the party as they were all sitting in the living room area, evenly spaced out on various chairs and couches, they started talking about presents.

"I wanted to get you all something, but I'm way too broke to get something for everyone," a friend of theirs, Ashley lamented.

Dan, Derek's first roommate at Queen's, agreed. "We should have done a Secret Santa. That way we'd only have to buy for one person, but everyone would have gotten _something_."

"Maybe we still could…?" Casey chirped in. "I mean, we can all send packages via the post office, right?" she asked with a laugh, causing everyone else to laugh too and comply.

Casey wrote everyone's name on a small piece of paper, folded it, and then placed it in a ski hat that someone had left on the table.

The hat began its way around the room. Each of his friends picking one before passing it on. When the hat finally reached Derek, there were only a few left to take. He quickly picked one and shoved the hat to one of his hockey buddies next.

"Alright," Dan said, picking out the last slip for himself. "Take a look at who you got."

All at once everyone opened theirs. Derek easily opened the paper up, but it revealed the name he was dreading the most: Casey.

"Casey, huh?" a hockey teammate, Jaxon said, looking at Derek's slip over his shoulder.

"Hey, you weren't supposed to be looking."

Jaxon's shrugged. "I'm trying to find who has me so I can drop some hints about what I like."

Derek chuckled at his friend's logic, but was quickly interrupted by Casey's laugh permeating through the apartment's chatter. He looked up to see her lounging on the couch, talking freely. Why did she have to be so beautiful doing everything and nothing?

"So…what are you going to get her?" Jaxon asked.

Derek crumpled the slip in his hand, stuffing it in his hoodie pocket. "I have no clue," he responded stoically, finally tearing his eyes from his stepsister.

"What do you usually get her?"

"Socks…" he admitted within a cough.

"Socks?" Jaxon repeated incredulously. "Did I hear that correctly?"

Derek sighed. "First Christmas I did it because I didn't know her enough to know what she would want. It annoyed her so much though that I decided to get it for the next Christmas and the one after that. Then it kinda became a tradition," he explained, snickering slightly at the silliness of it.

"No wonder she hasn't fallen into your arms yet, Venturi," Jaxon joked, ribbing him. Derek rolled his eyes, not feeling that the comment dignified a proper response. Apparently everyone in their group of friends knew Derek had a thing for Casey, except for Casey, of course.

"I've gotten better. I add gift cards now," Derek added with a smirk.

Jaxon only shook his head at his friend's weird ways. "Well, maybe this Secret Santa can be used to get the ball rolling."

Derek looked over his friend in confusion. "How so?"

"Get her something nice," his friend added simply. "Something that is not a sock."

"I don't know, man," Derek said unsurely. The mere thought was sending his stomach into massive waves of nausea.

"Dude, we're doing Secret Santa. And because we're just mailing them out, you can 'forget'," Jaxon said, air-quoting around the word forget, "to say who it was from. Use that to your advantage. Get her something nice, and then it's be up to you to tell her or not."

"It's our last year," Derek began, grimacing.

"Exactly! Next semester you're graduating. After you graduate, you guys might end up going different ways, meaning your chances of telling her are going to get slimmer and slimmer. Soon enough, she's going to show up with a fiancé and your chances are going to be completely gone," his friend told him imploringly. "Take the chance, man. Be the Italian Stallion we know you are."

Contemplating, Derek looked up at Casey from across the room. She was listening to their friend Ashley drone on and on about God knows what. Her smile was growing wider and wider, which only meant that Casey was getting more and more bored.

Her eyes drifted off to the side as she glanced around the room fleetingly, before they met his. Having his attention, she smiled serenely at him. Derek used his hand as a puppet to mock Ashley's never-ending diatribe, to which she giggled at.

Derek sighed, his stomach rolling and twisting. Maybe it was finally time.

…

"It's so not fair," Casey said, pouting from her spot on the couch a week later. "You got your Secret Santa present the day after we got home!"

He had. It had been a Maple Leafs' T-Shirt.

Derek chuckled from his recliner. He leaned back leisurely with his hands behind his head as he smirked smugly at his stepsister. "Maybe your Secret Santa forgot about you. Or, better yet, maybe they don't like you enough to get you one."

Casey blanched. "Do you think so?" she asked worriedly. He could see her mentally going through her interactions with all of their friends to see where she might have went wrong.

He probably should have stopped her, but seeing her freak out still amused him to no end. Plus, he knew her gift was coming that day, having paid the postman to deliver it, specifically, the day before Christmas Eve.

Not even an hour later, the McDonald-Venturi doorbell rang. Casey got up from the couch to answer the door, where she then greeted by a delivery man.

After she wished the delivery man a good holiday and closed the door, Derek's stepsister squealed happily in delight. "This has to be my Secret Santa present!"

She excitedly sat down on the couch as she ripped open the post office box. From there, she took out another box, this one much smaller and wrapped in wrapping paper.

Derek leaned forward in his chair, anxious to see her reaction, despite not knowing whether he was ever going to own up to being her Secret Santa or not.

Casey carefully opened the present, only to still when she saw it was a jewelry box. She furrowed her brow before slowly opening up the lid. When she did, her breath hitched.

"What's the matter?" Derek wondered. Did he she not like it?

"This is so…," Casey started but stopped as she took the charm bracelet out, holding in her hands delicately. "It's so beautiful. But, it must have cost a lot!" she said, shaking her head.

Casey immediately scavenged the two boxes for her Secret Santa's name, but came up with nothing. She frowned, extremely disappointed that hers hadn't revealed themselves.

"I just wish I could say thank-you," she whispered.

Derek swallowed nervously. His heart was racing. His stomach contents were tumbling. He wanted to owe up to it. Wanted to tell Casey it was him. However, he knew she would then ask why he went through all the trouble and spent so much money, and he wasn't sure if he could answer those questions without feeling like an idiot.

Shrugging, Casey put on the bracelet and admired it for the rest of the evening.

…

It was Christmas Eve night. The whole family had just set out all their presents for each other under the tree for easier access the next morning. But after everyone had retired to their rooms besides Derek and Casey, the latter was still by the tree, making sure all her gifts were accounted for.

"I can't find Lizzie's gift," she murmured, looking in all the piles once again to double check. "Yeah, it's not here."

"Maybe it's still in the car," Derek suggested as he channel surfed.

Casey pursed her lips. "I guess I'll have to go check," she said, moving over to the key bowl near the door to fish out the Prince's. "Grr, and I left my coat upstairs," she complained. "Can I just use your hoodie, Der?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, distracted, having found something mildly interesting on TV.

Casey was back within a minute, Lizzie's present in hand as she walked back inside. "So it was there!" Derek said.

"Yeah…" Casey let out absentmindedly, laying the present under the tree with the rest of Lizzie's stuff. She continued to stand in front of the tree, while both her hands and feet started fidgeting

Derek instantly noticed her weird behavior. "Is something wrong? Was it damaged or something?"

She turned to Derek sharply. "You are my Secret Santa?"

Derek noticeably paled. "Wha? Why would you think that?"

She fished her hand inside the hoodie pocket and showed Derek the slip with Casey's name on it. Derek cursed under his breath. He never threw it away.

"So?" Casey let out impatiently.

Derek sputtered. "What? You obviously already know."

Casey groaned. "Derek, why didn't you tell me? Especially when you saw how upset I was when I didn't know!"

"I just wanted to get you something nice. Something to show you how I…how I…f-f-feel…"

"How you feel?" she repeated softly.

Derek threw his head into his hands, trying to hide his embarrassment. "I told Jaxon this was going to be bad idea," he mumbled.

"What does Jaxon have to do with this?"

Derek sighed, facing Casey and taking in her presence. She was still wearing his hoodie, though she looked like she was actually swimming in it since it went down to her knees. She looked so huggable, so that's what he did. He went over to her and hugged her.

It took her a moment, but eventually she wrapped her arms around him too, holding him just as tight.

"Derek?" she said into his shirt puzzlingly.

Derek closed his eyes, relishing the feeling of her finally in his arms. "Jaxon thought it would be a good idea to get you something worth wile. To impress you," he told her apprehensively.

"Why would you want to impress me?" She sounded so confused.

Derek nervously chuckled. "Because…I'm kinda crazy about you, and Jaxon and the rest of our friends are tired of seeing me not do anything about it."

Casey pulled back, but only enough to look at Derek properly. "I love the bracelet, Derek, but you didn't have to buy that to impress me."

Derek smirked. "No?"

She shook her head, smiling. "You could have gotten me heart patterned socks," she said, and Derek let out a hearty laugh, "and I would have reacted the same if you just came out and told me how you felt."

Derek's heart was racing like he'd just ran a marathon. "And how do you feel?"

Casey smiled and lifted her hands to hold his face gently in her hands. Derek could feel the cool metal of the bracelet against his cheek and it made him smile. "Crazy about you too," she admitted before leaning in to give him a long-awaited kiss.

* * *

 **A/N:** Not one of my favorites, but I still thought there was a good batch of cute moments. The problem with doing daily one-shots and writing them the day of is that I don't have enough time to perfect them to my liking. Lol. Oh well. Big thanks to othfan67 (Adie) for the prompt idea though! :)

PLEASE REVIEW with your thoughts!

Happy Holidays!


	11. Santa Baby

"SMEREK! CASEY!" Marti shouted from the other side of the guest basement room door. "GET UP! TIME TO OPEN PRESENTS!"

Derek groaned, rolling over to look at the time. _6:35pm._ "You gotta be freakin' kidding me," Derek mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he sat up in bed. "She's waking us up earlier and earlier every year."

Casey sat up, holding the bed sheet close to her body. "She can't be stopped," Casey said, yawning. "The girl loves Christmas."

Derek looked over at Casey, his wife for almost a year now. He still hadn't gotten tired of saying it. Probably because he still couldn't believe that Casey chose him. He couldn't believe he got to wake up to scenes like this every day – her naked in bed with him.

He reached over, grabbing her in his arms before falling back into bed. "You look very tempting, Mrs. Venturi," he said gruffly, kissing her neck.

"Mmm," Casey hummed out. "We can't keep them waiting though. You're lucky George even let us sleep in the same room this time. Don't make him regret it."

Derek pouted. "We're married now. He can't do anything."

Casey dryly let out a laugh. "Yeah, you tell George that."

He sighed, holding her close to him. He nuzzled his stubble against the side of her face, making her giggle. "When are we finally going to be able to have Christmas at our place?" Derek dreamily wondered.

"Oh, probably sooner than you think," she quietly said.

Derek cast her a confused look, but Casey shrugged it off as she sat up again. This caused Derek to reluctantly sit up too.

"Go pick up my clothes, Romeo," she requested.

"Why can't you get it?" Derek asked with a huff.

Casey shot him a look that said, _'Really?'_

"Derek, if you even saw a glimpse of my boob, we'd never make it upstairs," she explained exasperatedly.

Derek smirked. "Fine," he relented, knowing that what she said was probably true.

He got out of bed, butt naked, much to his wife's pleasure, as indicted by the low whistle she let out. When he turned around with her things, she was watching him shamelessly with lust filled eyes.

"Oh, so you can oogle, but I can't," he said playfully, throwing her clothes at her face. He then put on his boxers and searched for his shirt, hoping that putting on his clothes would deter him from jumping her bones. Oh, why did they have to be at their parent's house right now?

Casey easily slipped her night shirt over her body. "I have control. You don't, hun," she said, winking at him as she put on her pajama pants. "Nice butt, by the way."

Derek grinned and opened his mouth to say something witty back, but he was interrupted by his little sister. "COME ON!"

…

Marti, Lizzie and Edwin all opened up their gifts, so now it was his and Casey's turn since most of their presents seemed to be address to the both of them.

All of the younger kids ended up getting them gift cards to various places so they could get more things for the new home they just bought. George and Nora had gotten them a new TV, which Derek was dying to set up.

Casey then turned to him, a goofy grin on her face as she handed him his present from her.

He smiled back at her as he took the simple squared box, wondering just what it could be. He tore through the wrapping paper relentlessly and popped off the lid. His excitement dwindled, however, as he looked inside, but he tried to keep his smile steady for his wife's sake.

"A mug," he tried to say enthusiastically.

Casey rolled her eyes. "Turn it around."

Derek did as his wife demanded, but his confusion only became greater. "#1 Dad?" he said, repeating the message printed on the cup. He looked up at his wife. "Did you accidentally give me George's gift?" he wondered.

His wife shook her head. Derek looked back at the cup. "But, I'm not a dad," he stated obviously.

"Not yet, at least," Casey stated. "But in 7 more months…"

Everything finally clicked. "You're pregnant?!"

Casey nodded her head, and Derek couldn't help but jump up and twirl her around the living room. He thought nothing could ever make him as happy as marrying Casey, but this bit of news was proving him otherwise.

When he finally put Casey down, she looked up at him with a watery smile. "You happy?"

"Ecstatic," he breathed out before leaning down to kiss his wife. When he pulled away, he was still dazed by the news. He laughed. "I'm going to be a dad."

Everyone else in the room was smiling at them. Some (Nora, Lizzie and Edwin) crying.

"Alright you two," George spoke up. "We'll properly celebrate after everyone's presents are opened."

The two nodded, taking their seats.

Casey then reached out for her present from Derek, but Derek quickly took it from her hands. "Der-ek!"

"Casey you are carrying my baby," he said, reaching over to rub at her stomach. "So as a partial thank you, I'm advising you to not open this up right now," he whispered to her.

"Why?" Casey demanded in a hushed tone.

Derek winced while trying to suppress a smirk. "Let's just say that my gift will make things interesting for our celebration tonight," he explained with a wink, "but it might give our parents heart attacks, and I don't want to risk that with a baby on the way," he continued, smiling cheekily.

Casey blushed at the implication of what it was. But then she must have realized he was originally going to have her open it in front of their entire family for her eyes quickly went ablaze. "DER-EK!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Can't believe this is the second to last one shot. Gahh. I really liked this one, so I hope you guys enjoyed it too. PLEASE REVIEW with your thoughts. :)

Happy Holidays!


	12. Home for the Holidays

Casey was walking briskly to the theater. Her show started in a few hours, so she needed to be in for makeup, wardrobe, and warm-ups.

Her phone then rang, buzzing inside her pocket. She picked it out, seeing that it was her mom calling. She sighed as she answered it, knowing her mom would just keep calling if she ignored her. "Hey, Mom."

"Casey!" her mother exclaimed happily over the other line. It instantly made Casey feel guilty for not talking to her in a few months. "How are you? How's the shows been going recently?"

"Good, good," Casey answered into the phone, slightly distracted by the surrounding traffic and throngs of people interweaving around her. "I'm actually on my way to the theater now to get ready for the next show."

"Well, then I won't keep you waiting," her mother said, but Casey knew what she was going to say next. "But Casey, do you think you could make it home for Christmas this year? You haven't been back for one since you started, and it's been five years…"

"Mom…" she started, biting her lip. "You know I can't. I have shows. Life as a broadway performer is very busy."

Nora sighed. "I know. But you have to know I'm always going to ask, hoping that one year you'll change your mind." Her mother chucked sadly.

Casey frowned. She hated making her mother upset, but going back home was just not an option. Not with Derek, who was going to be there too.

"I have to go, mom. I'm at the theater," Casey announced as she approached the building. The two women said their goodbyes and hung up.

…

"Casey?" one of the assistants for the shows poked his head into the dressing room about a week later.

"Yes, Rich?" Casey inquired, motioning for him to come in.

Rich came in with a wonderful bouquet of flowers. "These just came in for you," he told her, handing them over to her.

Fans, friends, and family alike have been known to buy a bouquet now and again. So, Casey didn't think anything of it as she took the bouquet, holding it close to her as she took in the appealing smell. But as she turned over the card, she nearly dropped them.

"What is it?" Rich asked her, noticing how rapidly her mood had changed.

Casey took a deep breath, trying to digest the situation. "It's from an Ex," Casey explained cryptically. "I haven't seen him in almost 5 years though…"

She reread the note:

 _Casey,_

 _Come home for Christmas. If it's me you're worried about, I won't come. I promise. Nora and everyone really miss you._

 _Break a leg!_

 _-D_

Casey sat down on her chair, trying to compose herself. Her makeup was already applied and she'd hate to have the crew come back in to touch it up because she had cried.

"Are you alright, Ms. McDonald?" Rich asked, deeply concerned about one of their stars.

Casey nodded her head. She tucked the note away and put the flowers down on the small table they had available. "I'm fine. Can you please get a vase for these?" she politely asked, gesturing to the flowers.

Rich nodded and quickly scurried off to get what she asked, while Casey took a big, deep breath. The show must go on.

…

Casey staggered to her apartment door, using Jesse as a crutch to keep herself upright. Her head was pounding and she still felt dizzy. Concussions were like a hangover without the fun of alcohol to aid it.

"Come on, Casey," Jesse urged, picking her keys from her purse to unlock the door.

It had been an accident – luckily not live. After the show, as Casey walked across the stage, someone above accidentally dropped one of the props and it hit her square on the head. She was instantaneously knocked out and woke up at the hospital with Jesse and a few of her other co-workers by her side. The doctor said she had a concussion and the director for her production told her to take the rest of the week off.

"Here you go," Jesse said, breaking Casey out of her ravine. He had managed to walk her over to her bed.

"Thank you," she let out, sitting down carefully on the edge of her bed.

Jesse smiled. "No problem," he recalled, then proceeded to take off her shoes and place her under the covers. Casey smiled at his thoughtfulness.

"Are you going to stay?" she asked, cocooned under the blankets. She felt like she really needed him tonight, more so then other nights.

Jesse sighed. "You're concussed, Casey," he said simply.

"I'm not asking for sex," she told him, irritated. Could they only ever fuck every time they were in each other's apartment? Was that all she good for with him? Did he really not care about her?

"I can't, Casey," Jesse said regrettably. "I'll call you tomorrow though. To make sure you're okay." He gave her a pitied smile before seeing himself out of her apartment.

Casey laid in her bed, alone on Christmas Eve. This is not how she pictured her life going when she chose to move to New York – becoming friends-with-benefits with Jesse and working herself to death to forget another guy.

 _Derek_. At the thought of him, Casey finally let herself cry. She never wanted to leave him, but she knew they couldn't work. She was delusional the whole three years they were together. Their family would never approve. And when Jesse randomly contacted her, telling her about an opportunity in New York, Derek had been so against it.

" _Why do you suddenly want to go to New York?" he asked. "I thought you said you were glad you didn't go, because then you wouldn't have had time to be with your family."_

 _Casey clicked her tongue. "These kind of opportunities are once in a lifetime, Derek. And I happen to get two?! I can't pass this up like last time!"_

" _But what about us? What about all the plans we made together? How we wanted to tell the rents, get married, and have a family," he asked beseechingly. "That'd be hard with you dancing."_

" _Then I guess we won't," Casey stated coldly._

" _What?" Derek let out softly, looking at her as if she just kicked his puppy._

" _Our parents are never going to approve of us, so why are we doing this anyway!" she yelled frustratingly._

 _Derek looked up at her, wounded. "Because we love each other, Case. And if the fam approves of us or not, I don't care."_

" _Well, I do," she said, turning away from him, breaking her own heart as she uttered her next words. "and I think we should break up."_

…

Casey woke up the next morning, warm and cozy to the point that she didn't want to open her eyes just yet. She was feeling a lot better than she had the night before, however. Her head felt amazingly better, and she half-wondered if she would be able to go to work sooner.

She thought she heard someone whispering, but immediately dismissed the idea as people outside her window – it was New York City after all.

"Go!" she then heard someone shout.

She opened her eyes just as she was bombarded by two figures, falling over her and onto the bed.

"We got you, Mommy!" the little girl exclaimed, clapping their hands excitedly with the cutest little smile she had ever seen.

"Mommy?" she whispered to herself, furrowing her brows.

"Come on, Ash," the other figure said, picking up the little girl. "Go downstairs and get ready to open Santa's gifts. Mommy and Daddy will be down soon."

The little girl nodded her head as she ran elatedly out their door.

"Derek?" Casey said softly. "What-What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Waking you up," he said obviously, flashing her a dazzlingly smile. He leaned down, kissing her sweetly on the lips. "Merry Christmas, Case."

Casey was breathless. This had to be a dream.

"Come on," Derek said, grabbing her hands and pulling her safely out of the bed. "We can't keep Ashley waiting for too much longer. We already let you sleep in."

Casey nodded dumbly, letting Derek pull her out of the bedroom. He was talking to her about something, but all Casey could do was watch him. He looked like he barely aged a day. Her subconscious was tricking her. This couldn't be real, but his hand felt so warm around hers.

And so they watched this little girl that was supposed to be her daughter open her presents. It was quite believable since she looked exactly like she did at that age, apart from the fact she that she had the same hue as Derek's hair and his eyes. But Casey's brain must have been more damaged than she thought.

"Mommy, can you help me dress the baby?" said the little girl as she walked up to her, holding out the baby doll that she had just opened.

"Sure…" Casey said, reaching out for the toy to do as the child asked, before handing the doll back.

Derek reached over, hugging her from the side and kissing her on the cheek. "I'm gonna take a shower real quick, okay?"

Casey's eyes widened. He was going to leave her with this kid? This kid she barely knew. "Um…"

Derek smirked. "I know, I know. I'm supposed to make breakfast today, and I will. I'll be 15 minutes, top!" he proclaimed, jogging up the stairs before she could argue with him.

Casey bit her lip, suddenly nervous in the presence of the child.

"Are you 'kay, mommy?" the girl asked, a small frown overcoming her features.

Casey tried to smile to appease the little girl. "Of course! I'm just not feeling too well."

The little girl immediately wrapped her little arms around her in a tight embrace. "I hope you get better, Mommy. I love you!"

Casey teared up at the affection, as she returned the hug. "Love you too, Sweetie," she let out, because a part of her really did love this child already. "Thank you."

The doorbell suddenly rang, causing the two girls to separate.

Casey cautiously walked to the door, slowly opening it. But as soon as the door opened up wide, she was nearly trampled over by the McDonald-Venturi clan as they clambered into the house.

"Casey!" her mom exclaimed, much like she did on the phone the week before. She was soon wrapped into a snug hug by her mother. "Where's Derek?" she then asked, searching around the room for her stepson.

"He's taking a shower," Casey explained, backtracking towards the stairs. "I'm going to go check on him," she said then dashed up the stairs, knowing her family would keep an eye on Ashley for her.

"Derek?" Casey called out as she entered what she hoped was the bedroom from this morning. It was.

"Yeah?" she heard from behind a door from the other side of the room.

The door was slightly ajar, so Casey easily pushed it open to reveal the master bathroom. The room was filled with steam from Derek's shower. Her eyes grew wide as she saw he was still in the glass-walled shower – the steam hiding just enough to make his naked figure blurry.

"Derek?" she called out meekly.

Derek slid the shower door over, revealing items of his anatomy that she hadn't seen in years. "Yeah?"

Casey's eyes were glued to his front for a moment until Derek cleared his throat, causing her to finally look up at his smirking face and not his junk. She blushed. "George and my mom and the kids are here."

"Shit!" he cursed, quickly shutting off the water and grabbing a towel. "Of course they would come early the one year we're not waiting for them," he muttered as he began drying himself off.

"They come every year?" Casey hopefully questioned.

Derek shot her an odd look. "Yes…They have since Ashley's been born."

"So they're okay with us, you know, being married and having a kid?" Casey asked, desperately needing to know these things.

Derek sighed. He placed his hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "That's all water under the bridge, Case. Sure, they didn't talk to us during our engagement, but they showed up to our wedding. And they haven't said a negative thing towards us since," he explained gently. "They know we love each other and they're okay with it. You don't have to keep worrying that they're going to change their minds."

Casey sniffled. Derek immediately reached to caress her face. She wasn't on the verge of crying for the reasons he probably thought, but his touch was still comforting. Casey just couldn't believe that this weird universe's Casey actually married Derek and their parents were cool with it – for the most part, at least.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked, tucking a hair behind her head. Casey nodded, swallowing down some more of her emotion. "Now, why don't we both get dressed, so we can spend some time with our family."

She smiled, her eyes still watery. She liked that idea a lot.

…

They spent the rest of the day, laughing and celebrating. They spoke of the infamous 'Derekus' from when she and Derek were still in high school, as well as other Christmases – most of which she had the physical memories of.

It was so nice being with her family. Helping her mom with the Christmas dinner and hearing her siblings recount hilarious tales that happened a few weeks prior. She missed this camaraderie so much that she was begging them to stay so much longer, constantly offering them more coffee and desserts in hopes they would.

Eventually, they did have to leave. Ashley had knocked out around 10pm and Simon was looking very close behind, so their parents decided it was best to leave when they did, much to Casey's chagrin.

She was now in the master bedroom, easily slipping out of her clothes and putting on a t-shirt of Derek's that she found nearby. She felt this internal need to be near him, even when he was only in the room down the hall, tucking Ashley into her bed.

Shortly after, Derek waltzed in but immediately froze at the sight of her in only his shirt. "Is this my Christmas present?" he mused cockily, making his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he kissed up her neck.

The feeling of his lips on her was driving her mad. She eagerly wrapped a fistful of his shirt and lured him to the bed. He followed willingly with a silly grin on his face.

Clothes were thrown up in the air without a care for where they went. Loving caresses and kisses were placed on almost every expansion of skin as they made love like she always remembered. And as they gasped out the last of their highs, they held each other close.

Casey couldn't keep her eyes off him as they settled next to each other, cuddling in the warmth their activity created.

He smirked sleepily. "Just can't keep your eyes off of me, huh?"

Casey shook her head. "No, no I can't," she answered honestly.

This remark caused Derek to chuckle, beginning to gaze at her just as intently. "Well…feelings mutual, Case."

Her lips widened into a smile. She reached out to touch his face, pulling him down for another kiss. "I love you," she said, her voice cracking from all the years she had kept that in. "And I will always love you."

"Hey," Derek whispered out softly. "No need for tears. I love you too. Always have and always will."

"Forever?" Casey questioned quietly.

Derek raised his eyebrow at her odd question, but he nodded, daring not to question it. "Of course."

…

Casey woke up to the sound of her phone buzzing and vibrating. She sleepily reached out for it and opened it up without opening her eyes. "Hello?" she said sleepily.

"Casey?" the voice said on the phone.

"Jesse?" she mumbled confusingly, sitting up in her bed. Casey finally opened her eyes to view the interior of her bedroom in New York. She quickly looked besides her in bed to find it empty and cold. She wanted to cry. It was all a dream.

"Casey?" Jesse said again. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she said, though it was a major lie because she wasn't fine. Even if that whole "married to Derek" had been a dream, she was still severely disappointed to be back in her actual life.

She talked to Jesse for only a minute more before hanging up on him. She couldn't talk to him, especially after realizing that he'd probably never look at her the way Derek ever did.

If Casey was going to learn anything from her bizarre, concussed dream, she was going to set things straight in her life. She was going to go home for Christmas.

…

The taxicab rolled up to the house in London. Casey's heart was beating erratically in her chest, wondering what was waiting for her in the home she loved so much with the people she loved the most.

She paid the cabman, rolling her luggage by the handle as she walked up the pathway to the porch. With an uneasy breath, she marched up the steps and to the front door.

Would they be happy to see her? Would they hate her for waiting so long to come back? Would Derek be there? And lastly, with a heavy heart, would Derek be there with someone else?

She quietly knocked on the door, half-hoping that no one would have heard. But to her disappointment, the door opened.

"Case?"

Casey's heart jumped at the sound of his voice. Her eyes raked him over appreciatively. It was weird, he looked exactly like he did in her dream.

"Hi," she managed to awkwardly get out, swallowing down the want she had to pull him by the neck and kiss him. Family and other significant others that might be in the picture be damned.

"What – What are you doing here?" he asked breathlessly.

Casey chuckled. "Believe it or not, a prop fell on my head and I ended up with a minor concussion. But with the injury, I was able to get a week off…now I'm here."

He stared at her. The same way he stared at her in her dream. The same way he stared at her during their college days at Queen's. But he soon shook his head, forcing himself to look down.

"I can leave if you want," he started. "I didn't know you would be here," he continued. It looked like he was turning to grab his coat, but Casey stilled his actions by placing her hand on his arm. It burned.

"No," she said. "Please stay. I want you to stay."

Derek looked at her for a moment, making sure she was sure. When she nodded in affirmation he let a smile spread across his face. "Well, I'm sure everyone will be thrilled to see you."

Casey looked up under her eyelashes shyly. "And you?"

"Me?" Derek thought aloud, blowing out a breath. "Yeah…maybe," he trailed off with a smirk.

"I've missed you, a lot," Casey decided to share, throwing herself out there. Casey bit her lip. "I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have run off like that. I was so afraid of losing my family, only to realize I did so anyway." She let out a bitter laugh, tears building up underneath her eyes.

Derek's smirk morphed into a wilted grin. "I'm sorry too. There's a lot of things we both could have handled better back then."

He reached out, wiping away the tears that began to fall down her face. "Casey McDonald, you know I don't do tears."

A laughed bubbled up over her anguish. "I just don't want to be too late," she confessed, her voice breaking. "I still love you…so much."

"Hey," Derek whispered out softly. "No need for tears. I love you too. Always have and always will."

The similarity between this Derek and Dream-Derek's words didn't go by unnoticed. "Forever?" Casey questioned quietly.

"Of course."

"Derek? Who's at the door?" Casey heard George ask, interrupting the moment.

Derek opened up the door wider, showing off their surprise guest. Immediately everyone ran to her, smothering her in hugs. She looked out over the sea of her family members and saw Derek leaning casually near the banister, chuckling at the chaos. He winked at her when they made eye-contact, and she knew then that things were about to get better. She was that much closer to making her concussed dream a real reality.

* * *

 **A/N:** It's the end! :( :( Well, it's been real. If you're celebrating Christmas tomorrow, I hope you have a lovely day. If not, I wish you a happy holidays.

PLEASE REVIEW letting me know your thoughts on this oneshot! It's the last one, you guys, so maybe even let me know your favorite! ;)

Happy Holidays and also have a Happy New Year!


End file.
